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We timed our departure from Falmouth Harbor to coincide with the Antigua Classic week. However, due to other preparations, the installation of the new alternator etc, we ended up only looking at extremely pretty yachts at their docks, rather than sailing with them out at sea. The hike up to Shirley Heights was another highlight.

We got our food in Jolly Harbor and sailed into the night to get to Barbuda – one of the most beautiful places we know in the area. A nice downwind sail under gennaker got us to St Barth’s the next day and we continued on to Bermuda from there.

Catching a yellow-fin tuna just south of Bermuda was another highlight of this roughly 1000nm leg. In Bermuda, a spectacular place in its own right, the preparations for the America’s Cup made for an even more memorable experience.

After a challenging start in Chaguaramas (we had to pull the boat back out and get if fixed over night) we got into the swing of things, sailed over night to the Grenadines and enjoyed a couple of days of island hoping before continuing to Antigua.

The roughly 400nm route looked like this:

We did not capture as much footage as usual. Hopefully the video below still gives somewhat of a flavor of the places we visited:

We got quite a few items taken care of today.
While the Captain went to work, Linda and Cathy dropped the laundry off in town, Corinna and Lauren cleaned the boat and packed their bags. Peter took care of the whisker pole pieces and spinnaker pole.
In the afternoon, after Peter exchanged burgees with the Antigua Yacht Club, we all met at Immigrations at Nelson’s dockyard to check out the crew that is flying home. With the captain back at work, the crew went to the beach to enjoy their last day in Antigua
Back at home, Ulf picked up the new alternator and Ellen started her trip to Antigua (by now all new crew have Captain’s letters to make sure they do not experience the same challenges that Ellen went through at Logan airport).

We celebrated Ellen’s arrival with a first cocktail on the deck of the AYC. Got the laundry back to boat, packed and went to dinner at Trappas followed by lots of dancing at the local corner bar.

The temperature is still perfect, the breeze is still going and the cocktails are still flowing – what more can you want…

The captain left the boat early in the morning to go to work (and enjoy the beautiful view) while Peter and Corinna found and fixed the leak in the aft cabin and also installed the new wire for the lpg shut-off valve that stopped working yesterday (and with that stopped the stove and oven from working).

While the girls enjoyed a day at the nice beach around the corner, Peter and Philip continued the troubleshooting of the electrical system. With the help of our master mechanic/shore crew, Dan, they concluded that the alternator was fried (probably because the grounding cable broke off during the trip). Dan and Ulf are working on getting us a new alternator in Marblehead that we are planning to install over the weekend.

We finished the evening with a sushi dinner at Angie Dickinson’s restaurant at the Antigua Yacht Club (Angie turned the old attic into a kitchen and doubled the upstairs patio size after the AYC moved into the new building next door) and a walk to Nelson’s dockyard.

A great trip is coming to an end. We have only one dinner left.

And don’t forget:Never got so busy making a living that you forget to make a life…

When the sun came up, the clouds had moved on and we had a beautiful, yet sportive finish upwind to Antigua. While Antigua Classics had not begun yet, we came across quite a few spectacular boats that were practicing before the big date.

As before, Antigua or Falmouth Harbor (where we are anchored) did not disappoint. There were lots and lots of amazing boats at the docks (a lot of them classics, but also the Maltese Falcon and lots of other modern superyachts were tied here), the mooring area was filled with boats and the Antigua Yacht Club had renovated quite a bit.
UNESCO world heritage site, Nelson’s Dockyard, is where we went through customs & immigrations and had a brief look a the wooden boats moored stern to.

After a meal on the boat and a few repairs we caught on sleep (hence this delayed post).
Hopefully, we will get our electricity challenge under control so that we can run the fridge again.